James performed a solo acoustic gig in Florida on Saturday, here's the whole set with comments about the new songs he debuted:

Mustang Livin'

Broken

Another good punk song, this one is apparently inspired by My Chemical Romance, one of his favourite Emo bands. Strong lyrics.

Lost In the Shadows

Scratches and Cheap Beer

Right Behind You

Beautiful

Hard rock/metal power ballad, complete with wailing and big guitar solo. Oh this is sooooooo good! This will probably be my favourite track on the entire album. The lyrics, the hook, the vocals and the guitar work are all superb. I can't wait to hear this one with full studio production and this is gonna rock live with full band.

N1N9TEEN

Keeps Me Alive

Another fantastic hard rock power ballad, again big vocals, guitar and hook, great lyrics especially in the bridge. I love this one too!

Quote:JAMES DURBIN Verified account ‏@DurbinRock 2h2 hours ago
I'm so proud to give my new album #RiotOnSunset a week early to all those who made it possible via @PledgeMusic. This album belongs to us!??

Downloaded it and listening to it now. It's 12 tracks. And here are the ones that made the cut, in the official track list order:

Riot On Sunset (hard rock):

City Of Nightmares (hard rock):

Beautiful (heavy metal):

Mustang Livin' (punk):

Lost In The Shadows (punk):

N1N9TEEN (punk):

Scratches N Cheap Beer Feat. Casey Abrams (punk):

Smackdown (hard rock):

We Are The Unknown (hard rock):

Broken (punk):

Sunday Is Gone (punk):

No video. He wrote this song for the first version of his sophomore album that Wind-up shelved. It's about his father.

(07-12-2016, 09:15 AM)Miguel Wrote: I didn't expect Riot on Sunset to begin so softly. I liked it. Is Casey featured on the studio cut of Scratches N Cheap Beer? Or does he just share a writing credit?

Casey features on the studio of Scratches N Cheap Beer and he sounds amazing on that song. I wouldn't mind a rock album from him at all. That was totally a spur of the moment thing. When Casey performed at Moe's Ally in Santa Cruz last month he was staying at James house. James decided to bring Casey into the studio and have him record vocals on that song. They sound really good together.

I'm sure James would've done the same thing with Haley if she was in town at the time the album was being recorded. The song Beautiful could've worked really well as a duet between James and Haley.

Riot On Sunset is a song that means a lot to James, as explained in this interview:

Quote:I read a quote from you that your publicist sent me about the song “Riot on Sunset” that said ‘I wrote the title track in my childhood bedroom when I was 21 years old. It was directly inspired by the youth curfew riots on the Sunset Strip in the 60’s. This song has had quite the journey, being pulled from both of my previous records for “not being good enough” yet hailed by some of my mentors as “the kind of song you only write once in your lifetime”.’ I am scratching my head in a major WTF moment and wondering what they were thinking in the past by pulling this amazing song from your album?

Thank you; I wrote that when I was 20 or 21 in my bedroom at my mom’s house. I was in a band and just trying to come up with something; it was the kind of song that I had always wanted to write. Everything just kind of fell into place like it needed to; that’s actually the oldest song on the album. It feels like it’s come full circle after being kept away and locked up by a label. Then, being told ‘no you can’t have your song back that we told you wasn’t good enough to ever go on an album.’ That was the biggest slap to the face and I was so determined, which was part of why I didn’t put any music out sooner. I got put on a shelf and then I was trying to get out of the label; they kept the song and wouldn’t give it back. That was the biggest key in making this album and I knew I wouldn’t be able to call it Riot on Sunset if I didn’t have it; there would be no context to that. Luckily and thankfully, we worked out a deal and I got the song back without having to give anything away.

The album is very old school in production - analog, no autotune, live vocals and instrumentation, minimal studio gloss. It sounds like a classic rock record. He wanted it to sound as close as possible to how it would sound live.

Riot On Sunset is now available on iTunes, Google Play Music and Amazon MP3. It will probably be released on CD Baby as well as available for sale directly from James official website shortly. I'm not sure how non pledges can obtain a physical CD at this stage, when I find out I'll let you guys know.

Writing credits for the the songs:

1. Songs not written by James:

Smackdown: Aidean Abounasseri, Grady Benson & Joao Barao Neto (these are the same guys who wrote the song Deeper on MOABD)

We Are the Unknown: Tommy English & Stevie Aiello (Stevie Aiello is the bassist for 30 Seconds to Mars. He co-wrote with James the song Louder Than a Loaded Gun on Celebrate)

2. Songs James co-wrote with others:

City of Nightmares: James Durbin & Lee Miles
Lost In the Shadows: James Durbin, Mike Green & Simon Wilcox
Scratchers n Cheap Beer: James Durbin, Mike Green & Simon Wilcox

(07-17-2016, 10:44 AM)Miguel Wrote: So I saw it said that N1n9teen is a "reflection on the moments James felt like giving up on his career."

Do you think the title is an allusion to 19 Management?

LOL, I was wondering that when I first came across the title of the song but no it's actually not about 19M at all. James explains in this interview (which is also a really good one to read) that his falling out with his first lead guitarist (Dylan Rosenberg) is what inspired him to write the song. At the time he felt like quitting the business, giving up on his dream. This feeling he had of giving up reminded him of another time he had the same feeling, when he was 19. And how at that time he chose to get himself together and carry on and that's when he saw changes start to happen. He reminds himself to do the same during this new low point.

N1n9teen is a brilliant song, lyrically it's probably the best one on the album.